Wednesday, August 16, 2017

McElwain on the Anomalous Life of the Japanese Constitution

Kenneth Mori McElwain, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Social Science, has published a substantial piece of comparative constitutional history on nippon.com, The Anomalous Life of the Japanese Constitution. The website explains:

The Japanese Constitution was drafted in the early postwar years and has never been amended. In this essay, a constitutional history and politics specialist examines Japan’s basic law as compared to its counterparts around the world. Do its brevity and reliance on legislation to alter its impact mean that Prime Minister Abe Shinzō does not need to focus on amending the Constitution to achieve his policy goals?